Does anyone have one?

I am just about to move into my new house and am in the process of buying all the bits i need (first time buyer).

I have just bought 2 smoke alarms and was going to order a decent fire extinguisher. The missus thinks im being stupid and that i should bother buying one.

Has anyone got one in their house.

 

I have one in the garage.

When I get my own place, I will be investing/liberating a couple of AFFF fire extinguishers for the kitchen/computer room

 

its worth it to have one in the kitchen, in easy reach for the cooker! soo many fires are started by forgotten teatowels and pans...

 

we have and a fire blanket in the kitchen

but only reason got them is other half works in fire proctetion so he has loads off them so we nicked them

 

I've got a big one in the garage that was a spare from my old work.

And a small one in the house.

PS - anyone know about how inportant the refill/use by dates are?

 

its important... not majorly... but needs doing within a few months or the foam ones separate and the powder dries out... plus the gas leaks out after a while... my dad used to be a service man for kiddie thorn, so we used to get all the old ones that were out of comission... and we could only use them for a few months...

the co2 ones were good though! sitting on a skateboard, then let it off behind you! great when you are about 6...

 

Glad to see that im not too paranoid.

 

Cheers. I'll have to check the dates then.

What are my chances of getting them done on the cheap?

 

Trouble is you need more than one type?

Surely an extinguisher that is suitable for electrical fires isn't suited to putting out a chip-pan fire?

 

ive been seconds from death in a house fire, the top bedroom window that i jumped out of smashed due to heat, literally 5 seconds after i'd jumped from it

scary stuff.

 

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...B:EOIBSA:UK:31

This is what i got, seems like a good deal.

 

We, (I'm in the fire service) would never recommend that anyone tries to tackle a fire themselves, the best thing you can possibly do is to shut the door to the room if/when its discovered and leave the house calling us. This will contain the fire to that compartment for up to 20mins (ish) and a fire that has a plentyful supply of oxygen will spread very rapidly. There is a video we show to children at schools and a fire is started on a sofa from a cooker lighter. The lounge door is open and in under 3mins the whole room is engulfed by the blaze. Smoke damage to the rest of the house would also be drastically reduced.

The brigade i work for has a campaigne to increase smoke alarm ownership and on the back of that we do things called 'home fire safety checks' safety advice and best practice information and we fit smoke alarms with a 10year battery for free also. I would recommend these to anyone as very often its simple things we encounter that can make all the difference to reducing the risk.

As fo what type of extinguisher to use, for a chip pan i would not use any extinguisher! The force that Co2/powder comes out with will splash the fat all over the place and cause the fire to spread. The damp tea towell/fire blanket is the way to deal with that. But as i said, we would never recommend someone tries to tackle something themselves. Just remember that responce time from the moment you call to the time the fire brigade arrives will be somewhere between 3-5mins maximum, the time you may waste trying to do something yourself could be the difference between losaing a little and losing alot.

I love my job so i appologise if i've rattled on and off the point of the topic.

Cheers,
Matt.

 

Have not got a fire extinguisher but have a fire blanket.

 

Muska, I agree with all you've said.

In reality, I would probably run screaming like a little girl, but it's good peace of mind.

It's CO2 I've got in the garage, am I right in saying that's about the best for there?

 

great advice there

 

its good to hear professional advice!

 

For the garage? Whats kept in there will make a difference mate to be honest...

you have to also take into account when you might discover a fire in the garage and how developed it may be by then. Or are you on about when you might be working on the car or something?

 

Yea mainly for working on the car. Had it very handy when we were grinding around the back end after taking the fuel tank off In fact, it was so handy I kept nearly knocking the fooking thing over as I got out from under the car

There isn't much in there - car, tools (in metal cabs), small amount of oil and beer. Lots and lots of beer

It's all block, with a plasterboard ceiling.

 

C02 would be best then, but if fuel/oil is likely to be involved then it would be Foam. I just want to stress again that i'm not advocating you doing something about a fire yourself. Out of curiosity is there a fire door between your house and garage if attached?

To anyone who wants advice, try calling your local fire station, or pop in and ask someone, you'll find most firefighters are very friendly and helpful. Just make sure you take some cakes or something!

Matt.

 

Cool.

No worries.

Yes. But, I want to put a window into the door. Would be at least ordinary double glazing, or that glass with the wire inside.

OK or a big no-no?

Cakes are no good for your fitness. I don't want a fatty turning up when I've got a fire

 

from personal experience any door with glass in (with the exception of proper fire doors with glass) are drastically reduced in their ability to contain a fire to a compartment. The glass fails and the fire gets all the air it needs and spreads very rapidly. The only door with glass i could recommend is a proper fire door, especially for somewhere like the garage where a fire may start and be undetected for a while.

Matt.

 

Maybe I'll leave it then.

 

if the fire isn't the sort that you can put out with a small extingisher, it's time to evacute and call 999

you normally needs 2 extinishers on each floor, but different types to deal with different fires etc

basic ones are CO2 (electrical and liquids), water (wood and paper) and foam (paper, wood and liquids) so a combination of all 3 plus the blanket should see you ok

don't forget that these little tiddly ones will give you probably 15/20 seconds of giving it large before it's time to run away, so if you are going to bottle it then do so while you have a clear line of sight to your escape

 

Seems a bit stupid not to have one. Ive just got 2L version myself but there really big ones (powder and foam) in the staircase outside my door.

Makes me think of when I had to put out a fire during a military practice, I was the last one to make the test and the other guys had used up all the big ones so I was left with the small ones. I had to run back and forth to the trailer to pick up fresh ones and by the time I got back 5-10s the fire was back at its normal rate.

 

it's taken me that long to type the reply that you've alreay had all the answers

 

Co2 and dry powder can do 99.9% of most home fires, Co2 is very good on anything really, just not brilliant for liquid fires, which is where dry powder and foam excel

Personally I would have a small Co2 and Blanket in the kitchen, and a dry powder+Co2 in the garage for car related meddlings

 

I have two 2 KG ABC ones in car, 1 large ABC in kitchen, and use BCF which is awsome, but illegal in the garage, only the MOD are allowed to use BCF now due to environmental reasons, and they have some mother extinguishers, that you need two hands top drag around on wheels.
As to dates of things it depnds on whether they are STORED PRESSURE or CANISTER, if canister they will still have the pressure there in the canister but if stored pressure it will lose it over time.
Powder extinguishers should be vigorously shaken every 6 months to unsettle powder, FIRE ex makers such as UK FIRE mark their dates with coloured press in buttons in the handles.
You should see what happens when some ABSOLUTE MORON throws WATER over a chip pan fire, it EXPLODFES BIG time.
So long as you can eliminate one of the THREE components of FIRE, ie the TRIANGLE, you will stop it.
TRIANGLE = FUEL/HEAT/OXYGEN.
More people are killed by smoke inhalation than by fire itself, which is why I have a SMOKE ALARM in EVERY ROOM, except the kitchen, and a stock of 9v batteries, they beep when battery starts to go flat.
tabetha

 

FIRE SAFTEY IS NO LAUGHING MATTER












































SMOKE KILLS IN SECONDS
FIRE KILLS IN MINUITES

 

true. especially a chip pan fire with a blanket or tea towel - heaven forbid a dripping wet one that they think will be better

who has a pan of fat on a ring these days anyway? surely all the northeners that eat fried stuff all the time have a deep fat fryer with a thermostat? as i understand it, unless the thermostat is faulty, the oil should not be able to get hot enough to burn with those?